1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for photographic process and, more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for photographic process wherein the quality of an image photographed and recorded on a photographic film with a camera is corrected during process on the image such as during printing and display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Apparatuses for photographic process such as a photographic printing apparatus for printing an image photographed and recorded on a photographic film (e.g., a negative film) with a camera, and an image display apparatus for displaying an image photographed and recorded on a photographic film on a monitor such as a CRT, must be capable of providing photographic prints, display and the like with high image quality. For this purpose, for example, in a photographic printing apparatus, a photometric process is performed on an image photographed and recorded on a photographic film, and exposure level is determined based on the resultant photometric data such that the image of an objective or the like photographed and recorded, is printed in a proper density.
The quality of an image photographed and recorded on a photographic film significantly varies depending on the type of the camera used for photographing, the type of the photographic lens, and the characteristics of the photographic film on which the image is recorded. For example, an image photographed and recorded with a camera at a relatively low cost such as a so-called lens-loaded film and compact camera, is generally more susceptible to: fuzziness on the image as a whole, reduction in exposure level at the periphery of the image, reduction in contrast, distortion of an image of an object or the like, and bleeding of color, than an image photographed and recorded with a high-grade camera such as a single lens reflex camera. One of the reasons for these quality deterioration is internal reflections in the body of a camera. Even for images photographed and recorded with the same camera, the degree of deterioration such as image distortion and bleeding of color, can vary if conditions under which they are photographed vary when the camera is the lens replaceable type and photographs are taken with replaced lens. Further, it is known that a print created from an image photographed and recorded on a highly sensitive photographic film generally has higher graininess compared to a print created from an image photographed and recorded on a photographic film of lower sensitivity.
Meanwhile, if there is deterioration of image quality such as fuzz and distortion of an image itself photographed and recorded on a photographic film as described above, this can not be corrected only by performing a correction of the exposure level and the like as described above, and this puts a limitation on the improvement of the quality of the print. Especially, a recent trend toward cameras at lower prices such as lens-loaded films and compact cameras, and toward photographic films with higher sensitivity has resulted in a situation that deterioration of quality of an image photographed and recorded on a photographic film attributable to the type of the camera, the type of the photographic lens, and the characteristics of the photographic film used for photographing, significantly reduces the quality of a print obtained using a photographic printing apparatus.
While Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 7-159904 disclosed an apparatus for correcting deterioration in the quality of images photographed and recorded on photographic films when they are printed, the technique described in this publication performs correction of the image quality simply based on photographic information magnetically recorded on the photographic film (information regarding time, distance, and conditions such as the stop), and therefore, can not correct deterioration of the image quality attributable to differences in cameras, lenses, and photographic films used for photographing as described above.
The present invention has been conceived taking the above-described situation into consideration, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for a photographic process which can always provide images of high quality irrespective of the types of the cameras used for photographing, the types of the lenses, and the characteristics of the photographic films.